The Worcester Bravehearts began the defense of their 2014 Futures Collegiate Baseball League championship Thursday night at Doyle Field in Leominster, Massachusetts in a game against the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs. Adam De La Cruz had the first RBI on the season for the Bravehearts when he walked with the bases loaded in the top of the fourth, and Worcester used the “pitching by committee” approach as the Bravehearts won 3-2. The boxscore doesn’t indicate it, but it looks like Alex Sanchez should have gotten an RBI in the top of the ninth when his single drove in Derek Gibree for the game winning run. Hopefully that can be fixed (or explained) at some point.

Friday saw the two clubs meeting again, this time at the Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field in Worcester where Jonathon Mulford threw six strong innings for the Bravehearts allowing just one unearned run. A three run fourth inning for the Bravehearts was more than enough as the Bravehearts cruised to a 5-1 win. Dante Ricciardi went 2-3 in the game.

It was a rematch for the 2014 FCBL finals Saturday as the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks returned to the HIP, and while Worcester’s pitching wasn’t as solid as the first two games it didn’t get much help from the Bravehearts’ defense as five Worcester errors lead to nine unearned runs for the Sharks in a 11-4 loss by the Bravehearts. Every Sharks batter had at least one hit, with Ryan Kelly going a whopping 4-6 at the plate. Eight of the nine Martha’s Vineyard batters also scored runs. Prior to the game the Bravehearts had a ring ceremony for the 2014 champions, that included skydivers and speeches from local politicians.

Pitching was the issue for Worcester on Sunday at Fraser Field in Lynn, Massachusetts when the Bravehearts took on the North Shore Navigators as Worcester jumped out to 1-0 and 3-1 leads but couldn’t hold on to either. A five run third inning by North Shore put the Bravehearts on their heels, and after the Navigators put up two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings it was pretty much all she wrote for Worcester. Sanchez’s 2-3 afternoon with two RBI was just about the lone highlight for the Bravehearts.

210Sports’ Players of the week
Pitcher: Jonathon Mulford with a strong six inning performance June 5th vs Wachusett where he struck out six.
Batter: Alex Sanchez went 4-11 with a double and two RBI in three games.

Around the FCBL
ThursdayRyan Gendron had a two run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead the Seacoast Mavericks over the Nashua Silver Knights 4-3; Pittsfield pitcher River Carbone had a three inning save for the Suns in their 9-6 win over the Torrington Titans; Martha’s Vineyard put up a five spot in the fifth inning against the North Shore Navigators and that was all they’d need as closer Mike Parmentier struck out the side in the ninth inning for the 5-2 win for the Sharks; Pitchers George Lund and Dillon Burke scattered five hits while Austin Chauvin went 3-4 in the Bristol Blues 3-1 win over the Brockton Rox.

FridayRyan Moloney retired the first 14 batters he faced and threw 7 1/3 innings of two hit ball in the Silver Knights 3-2 win over Seacoast; Shane Adams went 2-3 with 2 RBI in Brockton’s 8-2 victory over Martha’s Vineyard; Kellen Croce had four innings of no hit relief with six strikeouts to help lead the Titans to a 4-2 win over the Suns; The Blues turned six errors by the Navigators into a 3-2 win with Ty Robinson picking up the victory in relief.

SaturdayLouis Mele went 3-5 and Jake Walkinshaw picked up his second save of the young season in the Mavericks 4-1 win over the Navigators; David Gerics threw five solid innings and the bullpen did the rest in Torrington’s 4-3 victory over Brockton; Ryan Olmo knocked in the wining run with two outs in the top of the ninth in the Blues 4-3 win over the Suns.

SundayTyler Schwanz had a grand slam and Ben Bengtson contributed another four RBI in the Silver Knights 13-9 win over the Mavericks, with Gendron having two homers in the losing cause for Seacoast; Charlie Murray scattered three hits over seven innings and Jon Kristofferson had a grand slam in the Dirt Dawgs 12-1 pounding of the Suns; Davis Strong had a game winning RBI single in the top of the ninth to lead the Titans over Bristol 7-6 as Tim Cate had six strikeouts over three innings for the relief win; Justin Garcia threw six innings of two hit ball in Martha’s Vineyard’s 8-2 win over Brockton, where the Sharks plated four runs in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach.